Relhania calycina

Relhania calycina is a multistemmed shrub growing straight, erect branches reaching heights around 1 m. The plant is sometimes called Oedera calycina.

The simple, stalkless leaves are alternate, ascending and overlapping upon the upper stems. They are narrowly lanceolate, tapering to acutely pointed tips. The silky-haired blades grow on faintly hairy young upper stems. The leaves are up to 10 mm long.

The yellow flowerheads grow solitary at stem-tips. About five rows of blunt-tipped bracts with membranous margins form each involucre. The heads have spreading outer yellow ray florets around yellow discs comprising many tiny, five-lobed disc florets. The flowerheads are about 2 cm in diameter. Flowering happens from before midspring to summer.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Cederberg and Worcester through the Little Karoo and George to the Eastern Cape as far as Gqeberha. The photo was taken on the Gamka Mountain.

The habitat is rocky fynbos and renosterveld where the soils are loamy or sandy. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century.

The plant is rarely browsed (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).